Pia Toscano pulled a Whitney Houston song out on Wednesday, and sang it with seemingly effortless skill. She's in no danger of having to figure out "Where Do The Broken Hearts Go." She's safe.

Karen Rodriguez looked great, in a retro-futuristic dress hair and outfit combo. If only her vocals were as interesting. She sang Taylor Dayne's "Love Will Lead You Back," and has to hope that it was good enough to lead her back to next week. We think she'll slip through but just barely.

Paul McDonald is like a spritely little elf, grinning and dancing like he'd just found a wee pot of gold. On Wednesday sang Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues," smiling through the sad lyrics of the song. Getting sent home would definitely be called the blues, but somehow we think this child of 1984 will live a little longer.

We weren't really expecting Thia Megia to sing Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" just because it was the top song of 1995, the year she was born, but sweetheart, there were many more interesting songs that year than the cheesy Vanessa Williams ballad you picked from "Pocahantas." Stuff by TLC, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston. Um, Hootie and the Blowfish? No? Sigh. Another polished to boredom performance by the teenager from Mountain House, Calif. Still, she will be safe again tonight.

Haley Reinhart had a bunch of lipstick on her face on Wednesday and while that might not be enough to oust her, a generally forgettable performance could. "I'm Your Baby Tonight" by Whitney Houston came out in 1990, same as Haley, but it's not one Whitney's best-known hits, that's for certain. Still, we think that just barely Haley sticks around.

Stefano Langone might have saved his skin this week with a strong performance of "If You Don't Know Me By Now," a song done because the 1989 Simply Red cover of the Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes single came out that year. Judges loved it, fans should too. He's safe tonight.

Jacob Lusk sang Heart's "Alone," but even with all his vocal powers he doesn't really seem to know what do with a song -- how much fancy business to use, when to stay out, and so forth. So while he's not a favorite, he should be good for another few weeks.

James Durbin went back to the RAWK on Wednesday, after having dialed back the volume and amped up the emotion the previous week. He sang "I'll Be There For You" by Bon Jovi, a 1989 song as old as he is, and did OK but not spectacular. Enough to survive, certainly.

Casey Abrams broke the Nirvana barrier on "Idol" with a performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," which most likely it did with all those young fans packed in there. The Watcher felt it was a little too loyal to the origional, but it should be plenty good to get him through the week. Safe tonight.

Teenager Lauren Alaina bounced back strong this week with a performance of "I'm the Only One," the Melissa Ethridge hit from 1994. Given her earlier popularity it should be good to keep her around another week.

Scotty McCreery looks more and more like a contender, he's just that smooth and likable. And he sang the heck out of Travis Tritt's versoin of "Can I Trust You With My Heart." Solidly safe tonight.

Naima Adedapo shares our birthday, though if Pedro had to sing a song from the year of his birth it would probably be something by Bobby Vee -- we're just a couple of years older than Naima. She took on Tina Turner's iconic "What's Love Got To Do With It?" from 1984 and didn't make anyone forget Tina, which is not good. Also not good is going first on a night of 12 performances. All of that combines to this: She's our pick to go home tonight.

The Top 12 on “American Idol” sang songs from the years of their birth on Wednesday’s episode, and given age range allowed for the show that wasn’t good news at all given the cheese quotient of so many of the pop hits of the mid-’80s to mid-’90s.

And so we got Haley Reinhart, Pia Toscano, James Durbinand Karen Rodriguez providing a double dose of Whitney Houston, some BonJovi and aTaylor Dayne in the show, only slightly redeemed by covers of Nirvana by Casey Abrams and late-period Elton John by Paul McDonald. (See the Watcher’s recap of the show and its performances here.)

At least, we thought, nobody dusted off the Hootie and the Blowfish track that was playing on the cassette as their parents drove them home from the hospital.

Peter Larsen has been the Pop Culture Reporter for the Orange County Register since 2004, finally achieving the neat trick of getting paid to report and write about the stuff he's obsessed about pretty much all his life. He regularly covers the Oscars and the Emmys, goes to Comic-Con and Coachella, reviews pop music, and conducts interviews with authors and actors, musicians and directors, a little of this and a whole lot of that. He grew up, in order, in California, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oregon. Graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. with degrees in English and Communications. Earned a master's degree at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Earned his first newspaper paycheck at the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat, fled the Midwest for Los Angeles Daily News and finally ended up at the Orange County Register. He's taught one or two classes a semester in the journalism and mass communications department at Cal State Long Beach since 2006. Somehow managed to get a lovely lady to marry him, and with her have two daughters. And a dog named Buddy. Never forget the dog.

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The Top 12 on “American Idol” sang songs from the years of their birth on Wednesday’s episode, and given age range allowed for the show that wasn’t good news at all given the cheese quotient of so many of the pop hits of the mid-’80s to mid-’90s.

And so we got Haley Reinhart, Pia Toscano, James Durbin and Karen Rodriguez providing a double dose of Whitney Houston, some Bon Jovi and aTaylor Dayne in the show, only slightly redeemed by covers of Nirvana by Casey Abrams and late-period Elton John by Paul McDonald. (See the Watcher’s recap of the show and its performances here.)

At least, we thought, nobody dusted off the Hootie and the Blowfish track that was playing on the cassette as their parents drove them home from the hospital.

Fortunately, one of these kids of the bad taste generation will get sent home tonight as the pack narrows to 11. We’ve got a good hunch as to who it will be, so take a spin through the slide show above and see if you agree with our predictions. Then come back here and leave us a comment on whether or not you agree.

Peter Larsen has been the Pop Culture Reporter for the Orange County Register since 2004, finally achieving the neat trick of getting paid to report and write about the stuff he's obsessed about pretty much all his life. He regularly covers the Oscars and the Emmys, goes to Comic-Con and Coachella, reviews pop music, and conducts interviews with authors and actors, musicians and directors, a little of this and a whole lot of that. He grew up, in order, in California, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oregon. Graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. with degrees in English and Communications. Earned a master's degree at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Earned his first newspaper paycheck at the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat, fled the Midwest for Los Angeles Daily News and finally ended up at the Orange County Register. He's taught one or two classes a semester in the journalism and mass communications department at Cal State Long Beach since 2006. Somehow managed to get a lovely lady to marry him, and with her have two daughters. And a dog named Buddy. Never forget the dog.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.